“Action” is a pretty loose term that can widely apply across a lot of other genres. There’s action in some adventures. There’s action in RPGs. There’s even some action in narrative-based games. While we’re considering merging this category in the future to further whittle down the wealth of categories there are (let us know your feedback on this, Action/Adventure is one possibility), we felt like there were enough very clear action games this year that deserved recognition on their own as great action experiences. Here are the PlayStation LifeStyle nominations for Best Action Game in 2019.
Best Action Game 2019 Winner
Devil May Cry 5
Few series better espouse the word “action” than Devil May Cry, and this year gave us the fifth entry in the series, perhaps more bombastic and action-packed than it has ever been before. Three playable characters means three very distinct takes on the action, and new crazy larger than life enemies and bosses ratchet things up to 11 as Dante, Nero, and V take the fight to the apocalypse. It’s a game that’s as easy to pick up and play as it is difficult to master, serving a variety of players who just want to slice or shoot a demon in the most stylish way possible. Its flair, panache, and swift brutality earned Devil May Cry 5 a firm victory as our Best Action Game in 2019.
Reader’s Choice Winner
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Action games held good company this year. For our readers, it was a close three-way vote, pitting Sekiro, Devil May Cry 5, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order against one another in this category, but just a few votes made the difference and edged Sekiro out ahead of the others. FromSoftware took their expertise from the Souls series and then unchained themselves from those constraints and expectations to make a game that felt inspired by, but not shackled to, their previous games. Its action is focused and calculated. You might not be able to hack and slash through to the end, but nothing feels quite as good as executing a perfect string of attacks and blocks to take out a particularly nasty boss that’s plagued you for hours.
Don’t miss our full lineup of nominees for the PlayStation LifeStyle Game of the Year awards. We’ll be revealing more winners all throughout the week, leading up to the Game of the Year on Friday December 20.
